Oh you know what ML I didnt even think of that. If a primary selling point is cross compatibility with PoGO and the mainline series but the mainline series dex excludes most PoGO mons.... yeah I can see how that might be an issue.

I'm trying to avoid learning things about this game before launch, but the kerfuffle about the National Dex is making that harder than I expected. I saw some discussion of how bad the trees look and how the field Wingulls aren't animated that's mildly concerning, too. Obviously tree textures and animated overworld models do not a good game make, and there were always going to be teething pains in the transition to a game of this size, but it does make you wonder what we're not seeing if those were deemed finished enough to demo, and how much they can realistically improve in the next 5 months.

I've stopped buying games that employ crunch time, so I'm fully behind Nintendo's decision not to use it, but at the same time I hope said decision comes with a willingness to postpone a launch if it isn't ready. I'd rather play a fully featured Pokemon next summer than a barebones one in the fall.

I'm trying to avoid learning things about this game before launch, but the kerfuffle about the National Dex is making that harder than I expected. I saw some discussion of how bad the trees look and how the field Wingulls aren't animated that's mildly concerning, too. Obviously tree textures and animated overworld models do not a good game make, and there were always going to be teething pains in the transition to a game of this size, but it does make you wonder what we're not seeing if those were deemed finished enough to demo, and how much they can realistically improve in the next 5 months.

I've stopped buying games that employ crunch time, so I'm fully behind Nintendo's decision not to use it, but at the same time I hope said decision comes with a willingness to postpone a launch if it isn't ready. I'd rather play a fully featured Pokemon next summer than a barebones one in the fall.

They call me Captain Crunch. I only have 20 days left in my pokemon bank subscription so really this couldn't have come at a better time.

Thank you to all of our fans for caring so deeply about Pokémon. Recently, I shared the news that some Pokémon cannot be transferred to Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield. I've read all your comments and appreciate your love and passion for Pokémon.

Just like all of you, we are passionate about Pokémon and each and every one of them is very important to us. After so many years of developing the Pokémon video games, this was a very difficult decision for me. I'd like to make one thing clear: even if a specific Pokémon is not available in Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield, that does not mean it will not appear in future games.

The world of Pokémon continues to evolve. The Galar region offers new Pokémon to encounter, Trainers to battle, and adventures to embark on. We are pouring our hearts into these games, and we hope you will look forward to joining us on this new journey.

June 28, 2019

Junichi Masuda

So I was wrong with my initial thought that the information was mistranslated. However, I’m also not broken up by this news. I think a smaller and more focused Pokédex for these games is totally, 100% fine.

I’m in the minority though. Fans are overreacting like crazy. I hate this community sometimes. Most of the time.

To an extent, i think this is out of Masuda's hands. Removing/not-implementing Pokemon is pretty clearly to me a last resort option. I think Game Freak as a development studio is too small, too limited in time and budget to fully deliver what people want in 3D, and as they are they're kind of biting off more than they can chew. Their job fundamentally has always been to push out Pokemon games as fast and cheaply as possible to springboard merchandise pushes; this worked fine enough during the 2D era, and I don't think it's a coincidence that the DS games (Pt/HGSS/BW2) are generally the ones looked upon most fondly. When we get to 3D however, things get more complicated, as new monsters and existing monsters become more expensive and time-consuming to implement. To my understanding the Gen 6/7 models were made to be 'future-proof' but I guess with the jump to HD things did not turn out as planned, hence this situation. Making matters worse, iffy 3D work is more noticeable than iffy 2D work. You noticed the OoT trees, but how many off-model Pokemon sprites (besides Red and Green) did you notice in the past?

To be honest, I think Game Freak choosing to stay relatively small despite its massive success is admirable. This is an industry with ballooning studio sizes, crunch time worries etc. It's probably (or hopefully at least) a much healthier place to work at than say Ubisoft. But quality-wise a small studio can only do so much with strict deadlines and a small budget. Past a certain point the focus becomes relegated to "Well, let's make a game that's good enough", and I think that's just way too cynical. Pokemon deserves better, Game Freak deserves better.

Last edited by X-3 on Sat Jun 29, 2019 7:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

To my understanding the Gen 6/7 models were made to be 'future-proof' but I guess with the jump to HD things did not turn out as planned, hence this situation.

yeah, the models for X/Y were made higher quality than they needed to be and then scaled down, and they've used the same models for every game since until now, i think even for Let's Go. i think the problem isn't really with HD but with the Dynamax feature - larger models require higher quality

If you compare Sword/Shield to its predecessors visually it’s a huge upgrade. People are comparing Sword/Shield to other contemporaries and yeah it definitely is not the most visually stunning work by comparison.

Personally, I think a lot of it comes down to GF pretty much churning out a Pokémon release every year. It’s so merchandised that the priority is on getting new games out so all the companions (trading cards, anime, etc etc) can get new stuff out too. The Pokémon Company is not prioritizing making every new installment a masterwork of gaming. But that also doesn’t mean it won’t be fun and a good game to play.

I honestly see where a lot of the disappointment is coming from but I wish it weren’t being demanded by obnoxious entitled jerkbros. This is a personal bias, but I kind of hate the mentality that creators must cater to fans’ desires, and I think a lot of modern media is created and consumed with that dynamic in mind. I think people have a right to be angry and to criticize, but they don’t have ownership of how the creators choose to go about their creations, and if those don’t align then that’s not a moral failure on the part of the creator.

Anyway I think most people agree that it would be cool if the games taking longer to come out meant that we got more polished content. That does not look like how this series is gonna be treated moving forward. And if that puts people off that’s completely fine, but it doesn’t make the developers evil lazy horrible people.

I have not touched a Pokémon game since Gold/Silver but suddenly Sword/Shield is enough to draw me back in again, so I actually can't wait. I can't even really fully explain why I feel this way after all these years of not playing Pokémon.
(Aside from Pokémon Go that is.)